Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits
Authors: Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant Publisher: Jossey-Bass,2008
While the efforts of the boards and staff of most not-for-profit organisations are, of necessity, focussed on delivering services to their current clients and building capacity for the future, it is important to spend some effort identifying how to influence and build capacity outside of the organisation, that is, to build support for their “cause”. In their new book Forces for Good, Leslie Crutchfield and Heather Grant provide compelling evidence and ideas on how an organisation can go about creating long-lasting social change.
The core theme of Forces for Good is that non-profit organisations need to move beyond their own organisation and, even if in only a small way, contribute to social change, either individually or collectively. They should “employ a strategy of leverage using government, business, the public and other nonprofits as forces for good.”(page 6) This means developing information and skills, including the following.
Ensure there are relevant and meaningful connections between your organisation and current or potential supporters so they become champions of your mission.
Work with government to encourage policy change (which in Australia may be through a peak association, but not necessarily).
Be strategic and innovative in marketing the cause.
Encourage others to be willing and capable of pursuing social change
Work closely with businesses and other institutions.
Develop a cooperative and not competitive approach to other not for profits.
The message is that all community sector organisations need to work out how they can support social change as well as work with their current group of clients – how they can extend beyond their four walls and beyond the limited number of clients and often the very limited amount of work government grants allow them to undertake.
While the book looks at how nonprofits can create social change beyond their own walls through the eyes of six successful large organisations, there are messages which can apply at the local level for the local service. Some of the key ideas put forward in Forces for Good include the view that policy advocacy is every board and CEO’s responsibility in the community sector. This can be expressed largely through peak association forums, conferences and other collective methods of reaching the public, government and business. However, each board needs to determine its attitude to advocacy and even specific policies as part of its role. Indeed boards can send messages to the peak associations, discuss policy with other boards and even approach Ministers and Government officials so long as they are aware of the impact they may have on the approach taken by their own peak association.
Advocacy for your Service – Advocacy for the Cause
The need to support each individual client through service delivery and also ensure their interest and rights are represented by some – if not your –organisation would seem essential to any not-for-profit organisation. However, Forces for Good argues that this advocacy should be taken beyond this to ensure appropriate support for client groups as a whole. Indeed the advocacy should not just be with government but actively to develop support in the community and business. This means developing clear reasons why the community and business should support the social concerns of clients as well as the need for more resources for them. Clearly the more effective the organisation and its leadership, the more people will listen. There is a need for the messenger to have a high level of credibility.
Conclusion
It is always valuable to consider the role of your organisation and indeed its leadership in the wider world. For some it is sufficient to just make their organisation work well and deliver quality services, for others there is a compelling need to advance the broader cause outside their immediate circle. Forces for Good provides an excellent blueprint for doing this.
Click on the book cover to buy this book from Fishpond (Australian based) or Amazon:
